


The Fall

by IeshaFox



Series: One-Shots [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4871647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IeshaFox/pseuds/IeshaFox





	The Fall

She blinked as she stepped out  
onto the ledge.  
The ground was pale with snow,  
hundreds of feet below her, a  
black speck against the whirling  
whiteness.  
Was she really planning this?  
To jump off of a cliff, and  
dive to the snow far below?  
She thought back to her life,  
all seventeen years of it. All  
of which seemed to have passed in a  
blur, now that she stood in the here and  
now.  
All the good times, spent with her  
friends, at school. And all for it  
to end with a skydiving experiment.  
Finally, she stepped out over the  
edge, and she seemed to be suspended  
in midair. Her left leg then  
left the ledge and she felt the  
wind rushing passed her.  
It was too late to turn  
back now, as the decision had  
been made.  
She felt a %small vibration  
on wher right wrist where a set of  
devices were wired up.  
If she wanted this to be done  
correctly, she'd have to keep watch  
of her altitude, and speed.  
Sammi spun herself around, and  
watched the large mountainside  
rise up. She felt her stomach  
flop down into her boots as she  
plummeted ten, tenty, forty,  
eighty, then hundreds of feet,  
faster and faster, speeding toward a  
snowy death.  
She spread herself out in the air,  
almost as if she were swimming in the  
skies, her arms were spread out,  
her right wrist angled toward her  
face, her machinery fogged up by the  
wind.  
She must have been miles above the  
intended target, and yards away  
from her landing area.  
You can do this, she told herself  
firmly. You can make this landing, you  
have to!  
Sammi remembered donning the  
suit, and machines she wore this  
moment, the parachute on her back,  
the altimeter on her wrist, the  
goggles over her eyes. She  
had been assured that this would work, but  
she was skeptical.  
She'd be the judge of that.  
Then came the plane ride  
up, ever higher upward.  
And finally, her deposit up  
on the cliff. Now, seconds were  
passing like years, and she was  
plummeting through her life, and through  
space.  
She had to admit, while the  
idea of letting yourself fall off a  
cliff was frightening, the action was  
exhilarating!  
She pushed herself forward in the  
air, moving like she was swimming. It  
was just air, not water. She had  
to remember that.  
She pushed herself forward, a  
meter at a time, and it seemed her  
forward trajectory was slower than  
her fall time, and it seemed she would  
not make it.  
I can make it, she thought.  
I can make it, I will make it,  
I will land, I will safely land!  
Snow passed her in a white  
blur, and she started to angle herself  
again, almost sitting on thin air,  
letting herself angle adown, and  
forward. This pushed her away from the  
mountain, and almost along a trail,  
leading straight toward her landing  
area.  
Deploy parachute in a short  
moment.  
The message was brief, and a  
clock appeared on her screen,  
counting down from 120 seconds.  
119  
118  
117  
She had time, she had air, and  
she would live!  
114  
113  
112  
111  
Time seemed to be passing in slow  
motion, but Sammi didn't care.  
Just the thought of living sparked joy  
into her.  
107  
106  
105  
104  
103  
On the ground, a man stood  
facing the sky, a similar clock  
to the girl he was watching, counting  
down the seconds before her parachute  
deploy. This was his first test on the  
subject, and he hoped it wouldn't  
fail.  
99  
98  
97  
96  
95  
Snow whipped around him  
ferociously, and the man overseeing  
this experiment wondered, not for the first  
time, how the snowfall was like up in  
the air. Was it hectic? Was it  
calm? He had to ask the girl when  
she landed. If she was still alive.  
But, he had no doubt she'd  
succeed.  
85  
84  
83  
82  
81  
80  
"I'm doing it!" Sammi  
cried out, spreading her arms and  
legs out as she fell.  
Her movements had taken on  
a graceful look to them, and she  
smiled with excitement, her body  
humming with the joy of falling  
freely. This was the best thing that had  
happened to her, in the entirety of  
her seventeen-year lifespan.  
Time seemed to pass faster though,  
as if someone had momentarily slowed  
it down.  
50  
49  
48  
47  
46  
45  
44  
43  
42  
41  
40  
All she could do now was watch the  
snow on the ground come closer and  
closer, a small obelisk of  
black showing where she would have to land. That  
was the only contrast to the white  
landscape sprawling below her. One  
black among the endless white.  
She would forever chericsh this view in  
the depths of her mind's  
databases, remembering forever,  
the first time she'd skydived in her  
life.  
And this would never be the last time  
she skydived.  
She watched the clock tick  
down the seconds to her deployment.  
Finally, Sammi could make out  
the specks that were buildings, below  
her.  
10  
She braced herself.  
9  
Her hand reachsh back and '  
8  
Sammi felt the leather on her  
back, the cord tied to her.  
8  
It all came down to this.  
7  
Her muscles tensed with  
anxiety.  
6  
Time seemed to pass with agonizing  
slowness.  
5  
Five seconds and counting.  
4  
She felt perspiration beading on  
the bridge of her nose.  
3  
The snow whipped about her, blinding  
her for just a second.  
1  
0  
She pulled violently, and she  
was thrown to the side, just a fraction  
of a meter.  
But, the mission had been a  
success.  
Her parachute deployed, and  
Sammi let herself glide  
gracefully to the ground once more.


End file.
